Contesting the Structural Constraints. A Case Study of Roma Asylum Seekers from Serbia

Abstract

This chapter reveals the experiences of Roma from Serbia who sought and have been denied asylum protection in some EU countries. The seeking of asylum by the Roma from Serbia, as one of the main patterns of their migration, has come to the centre of debated about the rights of obtaining asylum within the existing EU asylum policies, while enforcing the discourse of “false asylum seekers” and “welfare migrants”. By revealing the complex reality within which Roma from Serbia choose to migrate in the form of asylum seeking, the study challenges the discourse of “false asylum seekers” and overcomes the simplification caused by this labelling, through looking at intricate relations between the decisions to seek asylum on the one hand and welfare benefits from getting into asylum procedure on the other. Furthermore, the study sheds light on various ways in which Roma asylum seekers from Serbia exert their power as social actors, thus contesting the tendency to “victimize” Roma populations. The study is based on several months of fieldwork carried out in three different municipalities in Serbia, with Roma whose asylum claims in countries of EU have been denied. This chapter aims to add to the analysis of how existing EU migration policies affect Roma populations by particularly focusing on actor perspective. It moves beyond theoretical analysis and looks at how social actors perceive their own experiences and understand the labels that are being imposed on them.